MY SPEECH IN THE RAJYA SABHA ON JAMMU AND KASHMIR ON 10/8/2016

MR. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: He will not stop in one minute. ...(Interruptions)...Naqvi ji, he will not stop. ...(Interruptions)... After disposing of all these names, if time is there, I will call you. ...(Interruptions)... Please sit down. ...(Interruptions)... Now, Shri Ram Jethmalani. Before that, let me request all the remaining Members to please take five minutes each. Please start.

SHRI RAM JETHMALANI (BIHAR): Mr. Deputy Chairman, Sir, apart from the fact that probably I am the oldest Member in this House

MR. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: How can it be a maiden speech?...(Interruptions)... He is the oldest Member. ...(Interruptions)...

SHRI RAM JETHMALANI: Sir, it is my maiden speech so far as my representation of the State of Bihar is concerned. . I have been now elected from that State and I am entitled to the benefit of one maiden speech, and, that is the one which I am delivering just now. However, Sir, I leave it to you. When you want me to stop, give me three minutes' notice. Sir, I must start by paying a tribute to the only speech which I thoroughly enjoyed from the first word to the last word, and that is the speech of the BJP Member from Jammu. I am sorry, if I do not know your correct name but, I think, you are Gopal Yadav. Is it? ...(Interruptions)... No? What is his name? ...(Interruptions)... Okay. Mr. Jitendra Singh. My apologies but I must say that I was terribly impressed by the speech, which you delivered, and, I am much wiser with that.

SHRI RAM JETHMALANI (contd.): Sir, I don't wish to repeat the contents of any other Member's speech, not because I have not enjoyed them but because of lack of time, and, Sir, I hope I will not repeat a word which has already been spoken. I must tell you that I probably had no intention of coming and speaking on this subject in this House. But, yesterday, when I got up in the morning -- and I was in Mumbai, attending a very great festival in my home; I was celebrating the 60th birthday of my elder son -- and read the newspapers which contained the statement of the Hon. Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir. I have regarded that lady as a younger sister of mine, and I have treated her with respect and affection. But I must tell you that I cut short my stay in Bombay, came to Delhi, immediately wrote a very strong letter to her and saw to it that it was delivered to her on the e-mail and probably repeated in the morning by the normal mail. Sir, that letter of hers contained what I regard as some very, very mischievous suggestion. The mischievous suggestion was, “please now start a new dialogue, like the dialogue which Atalji had with Pakistan”. We shall have no dialogue with Pakistan but we are prepared to have every dialogue with the people of Jammu & Kashmir and we shall surrender to them many things which they may not even deserve . But that is our love and affection for them. So far as Pakistan is concerned, Sir, the Kashmir problem has been solved more than once. It has been settled at least four times in the political history of India. Sir, first of all, let me point out to you one great mistake which Pakistan committed. Fortunately, they did not get the benefit of it. You know that when India was finding its independence, question arose as to the sovereignty of the British Crown , the States, the multitudes of States we had. To whom shall it go? And I believe that the Congress Party took a very correct role. They said it shall revert to the people of India. Even many Muslim politicians in joined this except the strict one in the Muslim League. They said, "No; the sovereignty shall not go to the people, but it shall go to the ruler of the State." Now, there was a plan behind this. The plan behind it was that they thought, "Kashmir is a small State, we will be able to conquer it by force at any time". They said, therefore that; the sovereignty must go to the Princes because they had their eyes on the State of Hyderabad. It was a Non- Muslim majority State and His Highness, the Nizam of Hyderabad, was ruling the State by that great army of Razakars, like whom one has not seen so far as military ethics and character are concerned. However, the Indian Army, under the control of Sardar Patel, one of the greatest politicians and sensible people that India had produced, was marching into Hyderabad when Pandit Nehru got some qualm of conscience and he tried to stop it, and Sardar Patel had to tell him a lie that the Army had already entered Hyderabad. And, if Pandit Nehru had his way and Sardar Patel had failed, take it from me, we will today be facing the problem of Hyderabad and India ..(Interruptions)..

SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH: This is simply not true, Sir. ..(Interruptions).. This is simply not true.

SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH (CONTD.): This is falsifying history. ...(Interruptions)... This is a canard. ...(Interruptions)... This is a propaganda. This is simply not true. ...(Interruptions)... I have seen the archives. ...(Interruptions)... I have written a book on...(Interruptions).. He is misleading the House. ...(Interruptions).. He is misleading the House. ...(Interruptions)... He is a very senior Member. I respect him. I respect him as a human being, as a lawyer...(Interruptions)... But on this, he is completely, comprehensively wrong. ...(Interruptions)...

DR. K. KESHAVA RAO: Which part of it is wrong? ...(Interruptions)...

SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH: Don’t interfere...(Interruptions)...

MR. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: Okay. All right. Keshava Raoji, both are on record. ...(Interruptions)... You sit down. ...(Interruptions)... No, no. Both are on record. ...(Interruptions)... What Mr. Ram Jethmalani said and what Mr. Jairam Ramesh said...(Interruptions)...

THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION (SHRI GHULAM NABI AZAD): Sir, today, we should not go into the history. All of us, the Congress Party, the BJP and all other parties, decided not to dig out the past. We should talk about the present.

SHRI RAM JETHMALANI: We are not digging out the past. We are talking about some historical ...(Interruptions)...truths

SHRI GHULAM NABI AZAD: We will have it when we will have discussion on archives. That time we will have this discussion. ...(Interruptions)...We are discussing the current problem. ...(Interruptions)...

MR. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: Ram Jethmalaniji, the issue is that Kashmir is burning. We want some solution. We are racking our brains for a solution as to what to do. So, rather than going back to history, give suggestion for that. ...(Interruptions)...

SHRI RAM JETHMALANI: Yes, Sir. Sir, I personally wish to tell this House that the solution offered yesterday in the Press by the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir is not a solution to be considered at all. You must reject it. We must be careful about giving this kind of advice which the Chief Minister gave because this particular matter had been decided four times. As I told you, the sovereignty had to reside in the people. I wish to cite one incident. When Hyderabad was lost, the raiders, the armed military people of Pakistan in concealed identity and posing to be tribals to attack Kashmir and they had...(Time-bell)...

MR. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: Now you have to conclude. Please conclude. You have already taken nine minutes.

SHRI RAM JETHMALANI: Sir, out of nine minutes, you deduct those seven minutes. ...(Interruptions)... All right, Sir. My appeal to this House is that the Kashmir problem has been solved with Pakistan more than three times. One point towards which I would particularly like to draw your attention is that in the 60s, Pakistan started a war of aggression believing full well that they are attacking us. While we were unarmed and weak . But the Indian Army completely mastered that aggressive attack and that led to another great action of one of the greatest Prime Ministers which India had and he was Lal Bahadur Shastri. What happened was that we got Tashkent Declaration. The Tashkent Declaration had two clauses. One was that neither party shall change the present status quo by force or by violence. And the second one was that neither party shall even carry on any propaganda for changing it. (Time-bell) If Pakistan wishes to go back on the Tashkent Declaration and other settlements that have taken place, be sure that you will tell Pakistan that it will lose its claim to half of Jammu and Kashmir which Indian generosity had given to it for good.

SHRI RAM JETHMALANI (CONTD.): But, we are prepared that we will take it back. (Time-bell) Sir, I want no talks with Pakistan on this issue. All that you must tell them is that if they want to fight that issue with us, let us go to the International Court of Justice or let us go to the Security Council; and, be sure that they will lose there. Tell them that if they succeed there, we will succumb to the decision of the international community. Today, Sir, please do not carry on with any kind of dialogue with Pakistan, but do carry on every kind of dialogue with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. (Time-bell) They are our kith and kin, and they are as dear to us as anybody else can be. Sir, so far as I am concerned, you may be pretty sure that I will give my life to keep the people of Jammu and Kashmir as friends of India and I will see to it that the Indian Union with that State is appreciated by everybody including the entire civilized world. I shall spend there a few years of my life that remain. I am running today the 93rd year of my life. I will devote the remaining part of my life to see that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are happy and that they remain happy, live long and be friends of this country. Thank you.

OPEN LETTER OF TO HON’BLE PRIME MINISTER NAWAZ SHARIF AND HIS FELLOW MINISTERS

Dear Prime Minister,

I don’t claim that you regard me as a friend but I claim that I am the friend of Pakistan including you. I have been born and brought up in Pakistan until I was compelled to become a refugee in India not because of any Muslims of Sindh but angry Muslims who reached Sindh from Outside India looking mainly for Hindu properties.

Sindh has been the land of Sufis and we had developed such a wonderful synthesis of Islam and Hinduism there. When I was young I used to get my new clothes on Eid day and Muslims children brought them on Deepawali.

From 1941 to 1948, I practiced law in Karachi in a firm called Brohi and Co. in which my only other partner was the Allah Bukhsh Brohi, a man whom I loved and whose memory I respect. People of Pakistan know him very well so do some people in India because he was the High Commissioner of Pakistan in Delhi for a couple of years. We were both products of the Bombay University and both of us had Masters Degree from that University. His degree was in Philosophy as Buddha and Kant as his special philosophers. I had constitution and International Law for my Masters degree in Law. Today I am running my 93rd year but throughout my long life which might come to an end any day I have not given up my love for Pakistan and affection for its people. Though a Hindu I believe that the Prophet of Islam was one of the greatest and unmatched in some ways. Pardon me for reminding you of the essence of his greatness. He is the one who told his followers that when you walk in search of Knowledge you walk in Path of God; the ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr. When Muslims followed this teaching they became the masters of the civilized world. In the 13th century, it is the misfortune of the Muslims that you produced a Khalifa who told you to burn all books except the holy Quran. Since then following this suicidal teaching you became the slaves of those whom you had educated to become civilized. I regret that tragedy persists and treat this as my dying declaration. 

Let me first cure you of your long suicidal path in the matter of acquiring political control of Jammu and Kashmir. While most Indian leaders including a small fraction of Muslim leaders were busy fighting for India’s independence majority of Muslims represented by the Muslim League was not interested in Indian independence but in the creation of Islamic State of Pakistan. India paid the heavy price and of course you got a truncated Pakistan but you rejoiced that you had at least got a new Islamic State. It is strange but significant that while the majority of Indian intellectuals talked of sovereignty reverting to the people of India the Muslim League insisted that sovereignty must descend to the rulers of Indian States. You thought that Kashmir will be no problem for Pakistan. You can capture it by force anytime. Your sights were trained at time on Hyderabad, a Hindu majority state but ruled by the Muslim Nizam and his ruthless army of Razakars . Your conquest of Hyderabad was frustrated by the timely action of Sardar Patel and in Kashmir whit its Hindu ruler you relied upon your army disguised as tribal raiders marching in with forcible occupation in view. They had almost succeeded in reaching the gates of Srinagar but fortunately they wasted sometime with raping some Christian Nuns on the way that gave time to the Maharaja to sign the instrument of accession with India. The Indian army got there in time drove back the raiders until you sued for peace and foolish Nehru with the kind Hindu in him was content to with half of Kashmir leaving the other half in the control of criminal gangsters. That was their status in law. You might respect them as patriots. 

This was the not the end of the problem. In the 1960’s you planned a war of aggression. Fortunately the brave Indian army frustrated this act of naked aggression on the part of Pakistan. You were lucky that India was ruled at that time by Lal Bahadur Shastri whom I regard as the best Prime Minister India has ever had. You should be grateful to his memory for he gave you a magnificent gift the Tashkent Declaration. It had two Clauses which produced a perennial peace and a liberal settlement from a victorious enemy to a defeated one. These Clauses were

1. Neither Party shall disturb the present status quo by force or war; and

2. Neither Party shall carry on any propaganda for changing it.

It is a matter of shame that you have forgotten this magnificent compromise and the Indian generosity which left half of Jammu and Kashmir under your control despite your act of criminal aggression. I hope you realize that your claim to what India call Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) is based on the generosity of the Tashkent Declaration .Unfortunately gratitude does not seem to be an ingredient in the character of Pakistan leaders.

After this Pakistan lost Bangladesh, a Muslim majority state which came to you at the time of partition of India in 1940’s. If you could not retain a Muslim majority province and you have permanently reconciled to that loss with what justification can you lay any claim to the half of Jammu and Kashmir which India retains as a result of a valid instrument of accession by Maharaja of Kashmir. 

I hope you recall that the Bangladesh disaster left 93000 Pakistani soldiers in Indian custody. Your Prime Minister Bhutto in words with their own significance was licking the feet of Indira Gandhi. He saved that army by signing the Simla Agreement of perpetual peace. 

I suggest if Pakistan is a self respecting country you should develop utmost love and affection for the generosity of Indians. Instead of that you have let loose a reign of terror in Jammu and Kashmir and the satanic organization ISIS is threatening the security of the whole world. Ask yourself Mr. Prime Minister are you not on the side of ISIS in this unholy war against the rest of the world.

You are endangering the existence of Islam on this planet. Of course there is going to be widespread destruction of millions on this planet and humanity might have to surrender the planet to the cockroaches. But you are not going to succeed in capturing Jammu and Kashmir. You should be ashamed that you are turning young boys from the age of 10-13 as terrorists and girls of a slightly longer age 15 years maximum. These youngsters don’t understand that you are using them to win some sympathy from the world but the world knows that it is the cowardice of the older people who want to sacrifice these innocent youngsters in your unholy war which is now being waged against Jammu and Kashmir and against the whole civilized world.

Lastly, Mr. Prime Minister when Musharaff ruled Pakistan he came with proposals for settlement. I regret that the then government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee rejected the proposals. After his return to Pakistan, Musharaff sent his proposals to me through his friend, the famous owners of a brewery in Pakistan. You know the name. I am suffering from a slight loss of memory. I will speak to you further about these proposals if you are in a mood to hear a little more.

Do I ask Mr. Prime Minister that you will consider this as an appeal from a genuine friend of Pakistan and admirer of the Prophet of Islam. 

You don’t mind this letter being published.

Yours Affectionately 

Ram Jethmalani 

India must take the lead in the UN to combat terrorism

I write this piece for my fellow citizens, but also to remind the triumvirate of our Home Minister, External Affairs Minister and the Defence Minister, to perform their duty to the world and the Indian nation in particular, and marshal all their strength for combating the monster or terrorism that threatens to devour the world.

Recent terrorist events around India and pre-empted attacks in India clearly establish that the IS is as much a threat to our country and its peace loving population, as it is in the Middle East. I wonder whether people are aware of why the second ‘IS’ in the name of the murderous organisation, ISIS was dropped? Because it is no longer the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but is directed towards every country of the world, including India. 

India, as an aspiring world power, must take the lead in exterminating this menace promptly and seriously, for the peace and security of our secular nation, and get into action in the United Nations, Security Council and the General Assembly.

2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In 2006, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (Resolution 60/288) by consensus to enhance national, regional and international efforts to counter terrorism, through a common strategic and operational approach to fight terrorism, and to combat it individually and collectively, mainly through strengthening state capacity to counter terrorist threats and better coordinating United Nations system’s counter-terrorism activities.

The Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy is composed of 4 pillars - Addressing the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism; measures to prevent and combat terrorism; measures to build states’ capacity to prevent and combat terrorism and to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in that regard; and measures to ensure respect for human rights for all and the rule of law as the fundamental basis for the fight against terrorism. The General Assembly reviews the Strategy every two years, and at its 5th review held on July 1, 2016, a detailed strategy based on the above principles was unanimously adopted. See https://www.un.org/counterterrorism/ctitf/en/un-global-counter-terrorism-strategy

The General Assembly resolution makes it clear that the primary responsibility for implementation of the Strategy rests with Member States, and gives the United Nations system the pivotal role for promoting coordination and coherence in the implementation of the Strategy at the national, regional and global levels and in providing assistance to Member States where requested.

The world has witnessed repeatedly in recent years, the rise of new types of terrorist threats to international peace and security. The most significant challenge is the spread of violent extremist ideologies and the emergence of terrorist groups fuelled by them. Violent extremism is a diverse phenomenon, without an internationally agreed definition. Nevertheless, in recent years, terrorist groups such as the IS, Al-Qaida and Boko Haram have clearly defined the content, intent and operation of terrorism and violent extremism. These groups unite in a single ideological source but transcend national boundaries in their murderous operations. In recent years, terrorist and violent extremist groups have inflicted immense damage. The statistics are frightening: thousands of civilians killed and wounded in terrorist-related incidents in the past decade and millions of men, women and children displaced or forced to flee their homes. Women and children, in particular, suffer, given that many have been sexually abused and enslaved. Even UN field missions and country teams in Africa, Asia and the Middle East have been attacked. This new phenomena of an undefined state of war, which eludes the existing Geneva Conventions on War, calls for an urgent need for increased international cooperation to prevent, counter and combat them.

In 2006, terrorist groups had a certain freedom of movement from their bases in ungoverned spaces. Al-Qaida sought to be a vanguard, preparing the conditions for a takeover of the State in some Muslim majority countries. Its success was limited and resulted in many deaths, almost invariably of fellow Muslims. However, Al-Qaida set the stage for the emergence of a more ruthless and determined form of terrorism. Al-Qaida in Iraq became Islamic State of Iraq in 2006 and then ISIL in 2013 before finally calling itself simply Islamic State and declaring the re‑establishment of the Caliphate in 2014.

ISIL and Al-Qaida remain indistinguishable in terms of their vision and ultimate objectives, but they differ in terms of tactics. From its beginnings, Al‑Qaida has believed that it should work patiently, while ISIL believes that it has to force the pace. ISIL still controls a sizeable area of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic and has expanded its reach through affiliates in Libya, Yemen and West Africa, while claiming “provinces” in other countries. One of the affiliates of ISIL, Boko Haram, has been particularly notorious and lethal. ISIL has also inspired, encouraged or directed attacks in faraway countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, France, Indonesia, Pakistan, Somalia, Turkey and the United States of America. In addition, it has attracted recruits from more than 80 countries, posing a potential threat to security when those fighters return home. Spurred to compete, Al-Qaida and its affiliates have established control of territory, most notably in Somalia, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, and continue to mount attacks in Europe and North, West and East Africa, as well as in Asia.

Terrorist tactics have also evolved. Suicide bombings have become more common, but so have mass-casualty and complex attacks mounted by a group of attackers working together in one or multiple locations and expecting to die. Another worrying trend has been the growing tolerance of terrorism by States, especially when terrorists attack rivals. Terrorism remains a common threat and a shared concern, regardless of its immediate target.

The role of the media and the use of social media by terrorist and violent extremist groups have gained a new quality and thus constitute an increasingly important dimension to address. Even foiled plots attract media attention, serving the perpetrators’ purpose of spreading fear and prompting a reaction. Most new recruits are now from 17 to 27 years of age, with differing levels of education and social and economic backgrounds. This has made the task of understanding and countering the appeal of terrorism all the more difficult, and the international community has found it hard to respond effectively.

That these developments have occurred, and even increased, as the world has poured more resources into countering terrorism raises serious and critical questions:

(a) Have Member States sufficiently implemented the relevant counter-terrorism legal instruments and norms not only to counter terrorism but also to address the conditions that give rise to it?

(b) Has the United Nations system been successful in providing the requested assistance to Member States in preventing violent extremism and countering terrorism?

(c) Above all, are the tools and resources at the disposal of the international community for prevention sufficient to meet and overcome the challenges posed by terrorism and violent extremism?

The adoption of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy has seen unprecedented international consensus on the need for joint action against terrorism. One of its great achievements has been to maintain the agreement that all Member States are affected and thus have an interest in contributing.

India should take the lead and mount continuous pressure upon the United Nations that the intentions of the UN are urgently actionated and effective international mechanisms set up to make a visible dent in countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism, not just in words, but in decisive action. 

Before I close, I wonder how many people know that Al Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State was arrested by the US forces in early 2004, and then released in December, because he was appraised by the U.S as a ‘low-level’ threat to public security?

Whither Islam?

I wonder how future historians would describe the advent of the 21st century - The Age of Terrorism? The revival of religious wars? Or to use Huntington’s famous heading, ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’ Or all three?

Today, the two dominant revealed religions of the world are at cross roads, the older Christianity in great fatigue, silencing itself in its historic, cultural homelands, and the later Islam in complete disarray, in a self-destruct mode. Politically, it has been captured by a self proclaimed Caliphate, which is in barbaric battle with the rest of the world. The Middle East, once one of the most prosperous parts of the world is in the throes of devastation and destruction. Its people are fleeing by the millions to safer lands, the closest being the European countries. This exodus, the largest in modern history is something that appears to defy a solution.

Saudi Arabia continues to be the patron of Wahabi Islam, which is known to continuously export money and finance terrorist activity in various parts of the world. The greatest challenge before the civilized nations today is how it can protect itself from the fanatical barbarians of the new terrorist face of Islam, now scattered and organized all over the world, who want to impose a complete negation of all the democratic values, constitutionalism, and secularism, for which the West fought for centuries through the blood of countless unknown lives.

Internet and social media are presumed to be the main vehicle for indoctrination, radicalization and organization of terrorism, another bite-back of scientific advancement. Cyberspace overcomes time and space and unites terrorism across the world. How will the civilized world counter this challenge?

The western world is showing a great deal of patience in the face of horrific terrorist attacks against it, starting from the 11 September Twin Tower attacks, the Paris attacks of November 2015, and the Belgian attacks of March 2016. Europe is under siege – by the continuous threat of terrorist attacks from within, and by the refugee invasion from outside. However, to the great credit of the people of Europe, in keeping with their secular ideology, they continue to wisely differentiate between true Islam and Islamic terrorism. But how long will this patience last? The day their patience runs out, the world will witness the most brutal Armageddon, fought on religion, a return to the dark ages. No part of the world will remain untouched; terrorist outfits are said to have spread out globally.

All civilized nations must immediately come together and work out a common strategy about how to counter this very dangerous monster. As far as the UN is concerned, I believe that it has still not been able to get a consensus regarding an internationally-agreed definition of the word ‘terrorism’.

I have written before and I wish to repeat that every scripture has two parts — the first, temporary, situated and relevant in the place and context of its origin, and the other eternal, immortal and universally applicable to humanity. A religion evolves in time when its topical, contextual content is interpreted as such, and relegated into the background. A religion evolves when its eternal, immortal and universal truths are reiterated and propagated in coexistence with contemporary times and with the rest of humanity.

I have written before and I wish to repeat that I am a great admirer of the Prophet of Islam, because he is the one Prophet who clearly told his followers, "When you walk in search of knowledge, you walk in the path of God; the ink of the scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr." As long as his followers adhered to this teaching of their Prophet, they were masters of the civilized world. When they forsook his teachings, burnt all books and read only the Quran, and that too not in its entirety, they became slaves of those whom they had educated.

This great picture of Islam of Prophet Mohammed has been more or less distorted, if not completely obliterated. The suicidal ISIS is a faithful reproduction not of Islam but the Wahhabi cult which is only an insult to the Islam of Prophet Mohammad whom I revere even though I a non-Muslim. I think most Indian Muslims realize this distortion. I am proud to call myself a secular Indian Hindu. Secularism, I have often explained is the subordination of ignorance to education and of religion to science. No prophet of any religion had even imagined of man landing on the moon, or the nuclear bomb, a capsule capable of destroying humanity, and modern medicine and surgery to heal humans from disease and death.

The cause of Islam’s tragedy was Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab, born in 1703 in Saudi Arabia, the founder of a sect called ‘Wahhabis’. He pretended to revive the Islam of Prophet but did exactly the contrary.

He picked on a stray line in the Holy Book and convinced himself that it has decreed death and annihilation to all Mushrikhun, i.e. polytheists. His definition of polytheists, however, was different from that of the rest of the Islamic world and has proved a big curse to humanity. By his definition , Christians, Jews, Shiites, Hindus and many others are polytheists, who have forfeited their right to live. He was the first to legitimize Jihad, even against fellow Muslims. His doctrine was worse than the act of burning the Holy Koran which advised – fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but do not commit aggression ( Koran 2:190-92)- and proclaimed that the ink of the scholar is more valuable than the blood of the martyr. In the spring of 1802, 12,000 of his followers invaded the southern part of Ottoman Iraq. They entered Karbala, massacred some 4,000 Shiites and ransacked holy Shiite shrines, including the tomb of Hussein, the martyred grandson of the Prophet himself. They looted the city and carried off its wealth on the backs of 4000 camels.

In the early 20th century a similar militia movement was initiated in Saudi Arabia, called ‘Ikhwan’ The Saudi Royal family saw great guardians in these toxic movements and the notorious Bin Laden was the evil product of these two. The movement called Muslim Brotherhood also joined in this unholy war on the decencies of the Holy Prophet of Islam. India has not escaped the evil attention of this motley crowd of fanatics. Can the civilized world conquer terrorism is a worrisome question and the answer is not easily found.

Muslims must recall the Islam of pristine grandeur because its current Wahhabi version is only leading to the destruction of Islam, through the self proclaimed IS Caliphate, and its savagery, hatred and terrorism against everyone except themselves.

Leading religious muslim leaders, intellectuals and thinkers across the world must create a movement for Islam’s Renaissance, before it is destroyed by the ISIS Caliphate.

The Government’s two year bash

The BJP and the Government have been busy celebrating its two years in office. In celebration thereof,

1. We have had the highest rate of food inflation over the last two years, and prices of the common man’s daily modest diet - essential commodities like rice, pulses and vegetables have skyrocketed. The unacceptable price rise does not seem to follow any rational pattern and can fluctuate between 10-50% in a span of a week. Inexplicable, but thanks to digital India, hoarders and middlemen have found the perfect way of building up a national grid for ensuring high prices across the country regardless of rains or drought, or whether the produce is local or transported. The Government has not responded in any effective way to protect the common man from the crushing food prices, though it could give strict advisories to the States to regulate prices through the Essential Commodities Act. The poor man’s diet and health are deteriorating, and no amount of Make in India or Skill India will improve them. In fact, the Government has found a perfect alibi for inaction on such matters; it believes that through its convenient mantra of 'cooperative federalism', this is the problem of the States. Minimum government, it may well be, but maximum governance, not at all.

2. The Finance Minister has done everything possible to damage the Modi Government. He started with alienating the armed forces, the guardians of our nation, by breaking all the promises made by the BJP and Modi about the OROP. He then has tried to alienate the salaried class, who have been Modi’s greatest supporters, by announcing in his Budget speech that the Provident Fund money accruing to them after retirement should be double taxed. This created a huge protest, and finally the Finance Minister had to withdraw his senseless move. But his motive would appear crystal clear, even to a simpleton.

3. There is enough talk that the Finance Minister and his buddies, cutting across party lines ensured that the BJP lost in the Delhi and Bihar State elections, both of which were well within their reach, had they showed better political acumen, and a will to win. And he was in charge of both of them. There is also talk that they were waiting for a hopeful loss in Assam, which would have paved the way for a revolt against Modi. But noticeably, for whatever reason, the Finance Minister was rather absent during the Assam election, and the BJP won. So, the revolt will have to be re-strategized. Delhi has for centuries been known for intrigue, betrayal and regicide. The atmospherics remain the same - the perceived number two always vying for the throne.

4. The complete lack of political will to repatriate black money lying in off shore accounts is even today the Achilles Heel of the BJP Government. Modi had promised it to the people of India in several of his election speeches, and the BJP had promised it in their Election Manifesto. If there is one single issue about which Modi has to hear jibes almost on at daily basis, it is this. He has never responded or explained to the people why he has broken his promise, not even when his trusted lieutenant Amit Shah frivolously told the people of India during the Delhi election, that the promise was just an ‘election jumla’. I can understand that wealthy and privileged people across party lines and across all professions, the opinion leaders, so to speak, must be heaving a sigh of relief about this betrayal to the people of India. They are safe, and perhaps, this may be the reason why the outrage has not spilt over. There is a lurking suspicion that Amit Shah was piously advised to make this statement by those who had already started plotting against Modi to defame him. And Modi has assisted the conspirators admirably by remaining mum on the issue and not rebutting a word of it. The Money Minister of the Modi Government, despite his inane and irrelevant statements about the issue now and then, has tried to make sure that repatriation of black money will never happen. Instead of flooding the country with the retrieved black money, he is flooding the judiciary with his cronies, a fact for which there is conclusive evidence.

5. Well, in these two years, the Government has done everything possible to disprove itself and shake its own credibility. Basking in its minimum government mantra, it has reduced itself into a government of great event management, conferences and slogans about India’s growth, concentrating mostly on the digital and electronic sector, infrastructure and industry, insurance and smart cities, whatever that means. Well, all that is very good and may it succeed. But, I’m sure that the ever vigilant and hands-on digital Finance Minister knows that servers in his banks are down for more than half the time, causing great hardship and inconvenience to the common people. And that the Jan Dhan accounts of the poor are already being rented without their knowledge for secreting black money. Surely, that was not his intent.

6. The government does not seem to realize that human resource development is as important for a nation's progress as infrastructure development. The Western capitalistic model cannot be replicated in toto in a country where at least 40% of the population still have abysmal human development indicators, be it in terms of education, health, nutrition, housing, or social and political awareness, particularly the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. The Directive Principles of State Policy of our Constitution make it incumbent upon Government to continue taking initiatives for their progress. Instead, we see a growing tendency of the Government to wash its hands off these very basic duties, and outsource as much as possible to external agencies, without commitment or accountability, or to the State Governments, in the fond belief that economic growth will somehow filter down to them and alleviate them from their misery. Well, it just might, but we would have wasted at least another two generations by then, for which the guilt would lie upon the Government that washed its hands off.

In these two years, the Government, still without any Vision Statement, has become a Government of Events, Outsourcing and Digitalizing. And the rest is left to the States.



In my next piece, I will give you an account of how faithfully the BJP is implementing its Election Manifesto.

A still born Anti Corruption Bureau in Karnataka

After my blog about the newly created Anti Corruption Bureau, (ACB) set up by the Karnataka Government, I tried to get the English version of the GO under which the ACB was set up from the Internet, but I just couldn’t find it. But what was worse was that even the Kannada version, which I had earlier retrieved and somehow got translated, had disappeared! The only conclusion one can draw is rather unsavoury – that the Karnataka Government is making it very difficult for the general public to access this GO. 

Be that as it may, after issue of the GO dated 14-3-16, Bangalore Advocates Shri S Nataraj Sharma and Shri NP Amrutesh on 2-4-16 went in search of the new ACB Office that was supposed to be located in Khanija Bhavan, and office building close to the Race Course, to file a complaint. As per newspaper reports, the two advocates searched the Khanija Bhavan but were not able to find any such office functioning in the building. They reportedly persisted with their search, travelling to the office of the Director General of Police and to the Malleshwaram Police Station. They were finally able to locate a Deputy Superintendant of Police, who was kind enough to receive their complaint and is reported to have stated that they had 15 days time to hold a preliminary enquiry on the complaint. Under which law and section this 15 days is specified, we have no clue.

This was the first complaint received by the ACB after its creation, and lo and behold, it was against the Chief Minister of Karnataka, about his acquisition of an expensive Hublot watch under mysterious circumstances, an issue that had become a huge controversy, rocking the last legislature session, particularly, since the Chief Minister was not able to give any convincing explanation as to how he came to acquire the expensive watch that he was exhibiting on his wrist. This was a humorist’s delight – and cynically, a befitting inaugural for Karnataka’s ACB. But what was more disturbing is that even after 19 days of the ACB’s creation, the designated office empowered to receive corruption complaints at Khanija Bhavan was still non-functional. 

Immediately after the GO of 14-3-16 creating the ACB was issued, the police officers working in the Lokayukta were asked not to receive any further complaints against corruption, and to stop further investigation of pending corruption cases with them. They were also asked to hand over all such cases to the ACB, which did not even have a functional office to begin with, not even on 2-4-16.

The Government clearly appears to have acted with a sense of panic and undue haste regarding transfer of the pending corruption cases to the ACB, not even waiting until a functional alternative was put in place. Anyhow, for the moment, everyone is waiting with bated breath, to see how the new ACB will handle its inaugural complaint against the Chief Minister of Karnataka, and demonstrate to the people its fairness and credibility in investigation. As on date there is no information of what has become of the complaint. This is Karnataka’s biggest joke of the year.

Meanwhile, a PIL has been filed by Advocate Shri Chidananda Urs before the High Court of Karnataka, stating that the new ACB has not yet become fully operational and at the same time the powers of the ADGP Lokayukta have been withdrawn, which has created a stalemate and vacuum in the existence of an Investigation Agency related to corruption cases. 

In the criminal justice system, there cannot be any stalemate or vacuum due to non existence of an investigation agency. This is something that has never happened in India before.

On 7-4-16, the High Court of Karnataka reportedly ordered that cases under investigation and pending sanction from government, before the police wing of the Lokayukta should not be transferred to the ACB. At the next date of hearing on 12-4-16, strangely enough, the Government of Karnataka asked for further adjournment of the case. At that hearing, the President of the Advocates Association of Bangalore informed the Court that they too have filed a PIL in the Karnataka High Court in the same connection.

Meanwhile filing complaints against the Chief Minister at the ACB was catching on. Another one was filed against him by an RTI activist alleging nepotism and corruption in favouring his son Dr Yathindra in a tender and to set up a diagnostic laboratory on Victoria Hospital premises, another issue that has been raging in the news. This was in clear violation of the Code of Conduct according to which 'chief minister/ministers shall ensure that the members of his/their family do not start, or participate in business concerns, engage in supplying goods or services to that government (excepting in the usual course of trade or business and at standard or market rates) or dependent primarily on grant of licences, permits, quotas leases etc, from the government.' Once again, it is reported that there was no police staff at the Khanija Bhavan office to receive the complaint addressed to the ADGP of ACB, and it had to be submitted to an employee at the reception at Khanija Bhavan!​

So the stalemate continues and the corrupt are having a field day. Strange that none of the mainstream national media have focused on this unprecedented subversion of existing anti corruption systems in Karnataka by a mere Government Order, with no effective alternatives in place.

My questions to the Finance Minister of India

A Requiem for the Karnataka Lokayukta, continued……

There appears to something terribly wrong with the governance of our unfortunate nation, that we cannot even ensure that our Lokayuktas are made of sterling stuff, without a single particle of any base metal. What I write today makes me ashamed of myself.

I wish to take my readers back to my piece, ‘A Requiem for the Karnataka Lokayukta’, that I placed in my blogspot on December 7. I am happy that soon after publication of the article, Shri Bhaskar Rao resigned from the post of Lokayukta on December 9, 2015 and further that the SIT constituted to investigate into this matter requested the Karnataka Government to issue a sanction order to prosecute him, something still pending with the Karnataka Government. Recent events in the Congress ruled State of Karnataka have completed the Lokayukta’s funeral rites.

After the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1984 came into force, the anti–corruption work in Karnataka was being done by the Police Wing which formed a part of the organization. The Lokayukta organization had under it an Administrative Wing, an Enquiry Wing, a Technical Wing and the Police Wing.

The Police Wing carried out enquiries entrusted to it by the Lokayukta, or Upalokayukta, and also implemented the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 through their units located throughout the State, which had been declared as Police Stations. In this arrangement, the officers working in the police wing were treated as staff of the Lokayukta and enjoyed certain protection for enabling them to act without fear in the discharge of their functions as per Section 15(2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act. This protection deterred the Government of the day from interfering or pressurizing the police wing of the Lokayukta in the course of investigation. The only weapon that the Government possessed was to withhold sanction to prosecute the accused government servant, which was used abundantly.

Suddenly on 14-3-2006, Shri Siddaramiah’s Congress Government issued a Government Order, that brings the entire anti corruption work under the sole control of the Chief Minister. As per Para 4 of the GO, orders declaring the police wing of the Lokayukta in Karnataka as police stations will be withdrawn, and a separate Anti Corruption Bureau, (ACB) will be established, and officers of this new Bureau will be declared as Police Stations. As per Para 5 of this GO, the ACB cannot investigate any matter concerning a public servant without the approval of the appointing authority, who is clearly the Chief Minister. More importantly, as per Para 6 of the GO, all cases pending investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and pending prosecution under the present police wing of the Lokayukta will be transferred to the newly created Bureau. As on date, there are several important cases pending investigation and prosecution in the police wing against important politicians, bureaucrats and police officers. They must be heaving a sigh of relief.

A reading of the Preamble of the GO indicates that the Government of Karnataka has relied heavily on a report of the DG & IGP Karnataka dated 3-2-16, which the Finance Department has agreed to on 4-3-16, after which it has issued the GO on 14-3-2016. Such rare urgency and efficiency is not often seen on public issues of greater importance requiring immediate attention and solution.

The DG & IGP’s Report of 3-2-16 appears to state that it was inspired by a Supreme Court decision of 1998 (C Rangaswamiah vs Karnataka Lokayukta (1998) 6 SCC 66), 18 years ago. This seems to have engaged his urgent priority, notwithstanding incomplete investigations and prosecution of important cases, such as, the Cricket Stadium bomb blast case, or the Kalburgi murder case that even today remain unsolved. The Preamble suggests that the DG & IGP’s report has stated that there is no system of supervision of the investigations of the cases under the PC Act in the Lokayukta. Nothing could be more incorrect. Lokayukta investigations are done by an Inspector, Dy SP, sometimes by the SP, and all such investigations are supervised by the DIG, IGP, and Additional DGP, whose officers have been declared as Police Stations.

While pretending to strengthen anti-corruption work under the PC Act 1988 as claimed in the Preamble, a closer scrutiny of the GO reveals the exact opposite. As per Para 2 of the GO, the Anti Corruption Bureau headed by the ADGP and his subordinates will work under the control of a Secretary level officer of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), and will report to the Chief Secretary, who in turn will report to the Chief Minister. By this, it is virtually the Chief Minister of Karnataka who will control all anti corruption operations in Karnataka.

Para 11 of the GO gives no clue of how complaints of corruption against the DG & IGP, or the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretaries of the Finance Department and DPA will be dealt with. These are all members of the Vigilance Advisory Board. And most importantly, the GO does not stipulate how complaints of corruption against the Chief Minister and other Ministers of the Karnataka Government will be dealt with, since the powers to investigate complaints under the PC Act have all been removed from the police wing of the Lokayukta by this GO. 

There is no mention in the GO whether this new arrangement regarding the staff of the Lokayukta, which includes the police wing, was discussed with the Upalokayukta, (Karnataka still has no Lokayukta) as is mandatory under Section 15 (2) of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act, 1986. 

It is not difficult to see what lies beneath this GO. Creation of this ACB gives a direct handle to the CM, the ultimate authority of the ACB, which he can use to protect himself against corruption allegations, against dissidents within his own party, against difficult opposition members who can cause him problems, and against honest bureaucrats and police officers who choose to do their duty against political pressure. It is not difficult to get vexatious corruption complaints filed against them with the ACB, directly under his control, and get cases registered against them. That will take care of them for the immediate future.

The Chief Minister of Karnataka has indeed armed himself with a double-edged deadly weapon – to destroy opposition and to protect corruption in a gross misuse of executive power.

My thesis is in complete conformity with the views of prestigious and fearless sections of the press and other media. My thoughts are also echoed by my old friend Santosh Hegde whom I greatly respect.

Let us see how this pernicious, devious move by Siddaramiah is countered politically or by vigilant civil society organizations.

The Great Indian Budget Tamasha – Nothing much about nothing much

Let’s admit it – we love hype. Unless there is hype in the TV news, we find it boring. And our TV channels judge themselves by the amount of hype and hysteria they create. The presentation of the Union Budget every year is a mandatory and routine exercise of every democratic, elected government, sanctioning expenditures and revenues for various activities of the Centre and States for the financial year. In India, we have made it something akin to a carnival. Speculation and debates precede the budget presentation, about authentic GDP growth, deficit financing, inflation rates, FDI, foreign exchange reserves, etc. Big business houses and their lobbyists position themselves visibly or invisibly in Lutyen’s Delhi , either trying to lobby for taxation and exemption proposals in their interest, or using their more surreptitious resources with politicians and bureaucrats to get inside information regarding taxation proposals.

Well, coming back to the Budget, and particularly about the Finance Minister’s Budget speech, it really appears to be nothing much about nothing much. Nothing innovative, the usual tweaking of taxes, this way or that, and recycling of old schemes into new avataras with a few extra flourishes. 

First of all, I hope that the Government will fulfill its promises made to the Defence Forces regarding OROP. I have written extensively about the subject in my blog of March 3, 2016. To give the 75% of what was promised and hold back on 25% which directly and adversely affects the lowest but most critical segments of the defence forces shows complete insensitivity and national imprudence. I hope pensions for the retired soldiers or their widows will be in accordance with the promises made to them. I’m sure the Government realizes that India cannot afford to have disgruntled defence forces, particularly in the present geo-political scenario.

The Budget also suggests that it is relying more on extra-programmatic interventions to secure the welfare of the most distressed sections off our people. Take for example the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yogana, which seeks to provide relief to distressed farmers not through government initiatives, but through Insurance Companies. Or the Health Insurance Scheme, that is supposed to pay for hospitalization expenditure of the poor. The hidden message in these programmes is that the governmental machinery that was created to provide these services is incapable of doing so and has irretrievably broken down, beyond repair. I congratulate the government for having made this admission.

Regarding the Agenda to Transform India, I am happy that the Finance Minister has placed Agriculture and Famers’ Welfare at the top of the agenda. I look forward to seeing how he proposes to give them ‘income security’ and double their incomes by 2022! Irrigation and fertilizers is what we have been speaking about since the First Five Year Plan, and though at a very difficult time, we succeeded in a Green Revolution, we are now faced with its unintended consequences of poor soil health and depleted, contaminated water resources.

I wish the Finance Minister had also given us a White Paper about the real agricultural situation and projections in India. The issues I would consider important as India progresses are - What is the agricultural demand to provide food security in India for the next 20 years at least for its growing population? What special measures in agriculture does he propose for the chronic drought prone and arid zones of India, like Bundelkhand, that tragically remain the same year after year, even though scientific agricultural practices can redeem the lives of the farmers, as has been proven in Israel? What is the projected acreage available for food production, after factoring in the insatiable demand for land for housing, urbanization and industrialization, that is already happening as our society is demographically transforming from the agricultural to the industrial and service mode. I’m sure experts are aware that India is not following the sequential pattern as most industrial societies did, but is entrapped in several time warps, where the service sector has overtaken the industrial sector in the GDP, thanks to the IT revolution and liberalization. What is the projected irrigation cover, what will be the food deficit, and how do we plan to cope with it, as more and more agricultural land becomes non-agricultural land? Year after year, we see agricultural land and production declining, without much improvement in per acre productivity. What is the projected pattern and numbers of rural urban migration, and how will urban India cope with it? Why has the State agricultural cooperative credit structure broken down, that farmers have to turn to commercial banks for agricultural loans, the default of which is driving them to suicide? Does the Finance Minister know that one of the weakest and understaffed Departments at the Block and village level is the Agriculture Department? How does he propose to overcome these constraints? Until these vital issues are understood and addressed through a well thought out strategy and interventions, ad hoc Government’s schemes will only become another bunch of symptomatic measures, draining money out of government coffers, with little transformational or permanent impact. While Rural India will benefit from a Digital Literacy Mission, if it means digital capacity building and not computer marketing, what it urgently needs is a National Agriculture Mission. 

The most disappointing portion of the speech is about the Social Sector. The Budget speech provides no hint as to how it will improve the quality and productivity of our vast human resources, considered to be our greatest strength in this century – the demographic dividend. His statements regarding education and skills are standard, something being repeated from the 1970s. But there is not a word about malnutrition that still continues to afflict at least 50% of the population, despite his 2014 Budget announcement of a National Nutrition Mission. Per capita calorie, protein and micronutrient intake among our children, adolescents, and adults of the poorer sections continues to be far below recommended standards; undernutrition and stunting is rampant, reducing children’s capacity to study, adults’ capacity to work and earn and contribute to the GDP. This, in my view is more important than a Digital Literacy Mission. 

The Finance Minister’s insensitive proposal to tax EPF withdrawals above 40% has thankfully been withdrawn after the wide public protest. But what prompted him include it in the first place?

But his greatest duplicity has been regarding the repatriation of black money stashed away in off shore banks. This is what he says in Para 61 of his speech:

“Our Government is fully committed to remove black money from the economy. Having given one opportunity for evaded income to be declared once, we would then like to focus all our resources for bringing people with black money to books.” (Note the word ‘books’ and not ‘book’)

He consciously reiterates his Party President’s disgraceful charge against Prime Minister Modi of having deceived the people of India by his promise of sharing with every poor family fifteen lacs ( Rs. 15,00,000). It is primarily all about the three cheats in the BJP and a large number in the earlier regime with former Finance Minister Chidambaram heading them all. More about him and Jaitley in my next piece. 

Rahul's Fair and Lovely borrowing from my 2011 Article

My article, ‘Black money amnesty scheme is a scam to cover up another scam’, in Sunday Guardian, written way back in 2011, starts like this,

“So we are at it again, desperately trying to change the colour of money from black to white, with the same Fair and Lovely amnesty recipe. I learn from press reports that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is "seriously considering" recommending to the government a scheme on the lines of the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) announced in 1996 to bring back black money stashed in tax havens abroad for productive use in India. Black money amnesty scheme is a scam to cover up another scam”

Link to my article : http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/black-money-amnesty-scheme-is-a-scam-to-cover-up-another-scam

Rahul is really exceptional. He quotes words written by me describing the corruption of some Congress Leaders and in particular Chidambaram regarding black money, and uses them against Chidambaram’s present counterpart, in the Present Modi Government who is his greatest benefactor. I am not averse to your attack on the present Finance Minister but he is only a friendly collaborator with your Chidambaram. 

My Congratulations to Rahul that he reads my writings. Be free to quote but do sometimes indicate the source. Avoid charges of plagiarism. 

OROP- The Great Betrayal

I think it’s time now that we term OROP – One Rank, One Pension, as APAB – A Promise and Betrayal.

Betrayal seems to have become a habit with the present regime. The Prime Minister betrayed the people of India in his promise for repatriating the nation's money illegally stashed away in off shore banks and now he has betrayed our great and loyal armed forces in his promise regarding judicious implementation of One Rank One Pension.

I am a much saddened man today, and I cannot understand why our great leader, who was beloved of the masses, beloved of the defence community of India, has decided to betray them so cruelly.

I recall that after Narendra Modi’s nomination as Prime Minister on September 11, 2013, at his first election rally in Riwari in Haryana on September 15, he assured the defence forces of his support to implement One Rank One Pension. This promise was continuously repeated at several other election rallies across the country. In fact it was the repetition of this promise, and the trust that the defence community placed in Modi, that compelled the then Finance Minister Chidambaram to include the OROP in his February 2014 budget, and make a token allocation of Rs 500 crores for it. Of course, they did nothing about it.

Resting on their hopes, the ex servicemen community contributed very significantly to the BJP victory especially in North India, where most of them reside – Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Delhi, and of course UP, which has the largest number of ex-servicemen in the country.

Even over the last one month, the nation has witnessed the daily mortal risk faced by members of our defence forces, and the sacrifice demanded from them for defending our country. So that we can then sit back in our comfortable chairs and pass judgement about what went wrong or right. Just in the last one month, we have seen tragic loss of life of our brave soldiers in Pathankot, in Siachin, and at the J&K Line of Actual Control, something that has become a recurring event.

And we acknowledge and reward the sacrifice of our brave and patriotic soldiers by betraying the promises that were made to them by our political leaders.

Details of the OROP had been well defined in the Koshiyari Committee Report, 2012, which had been placed before Parliament and been unanimously approved. The NDA Government confirmed this definition in Parliament in 2014. Jaitley’s Budget of June 2014, continued with its assurance of implementing the OROP. Jaitley was then both Finance and Defence Minister, and the defence community was full of hope and expectation, thinking they would more speedily get their dues through a single window clearance.

But after the Budget announcement, a period of complete inertia set in, until Parrikar was appointed Defence Minister on November 9, 2014. The new Defence Minister held consultations with representatives of the defence organizations, and there was great satisfaction when in February 2015, he came out with a Draft Government Notification that satisfied the legitimate demands of the defence services. They eagerly awaited the implementation announcement in Jaitley’s next Budget of 2015. 

But a shock was in store for them. The Budget of 2015 contained not a word about OROP or its implementation. There was disbelief and consternation among the ex-servicemen, and a sense of betrayal. And that is when the sad spectacle of the agitation by our brave and patriotic ex-servicemen started, which continues even today. Experts on statecraft, starting from Kautilya, Machiavelli to the present day state unequivocally that if a country’s army is turning on to an agitation mode, then something is dangerously wrong with the country’s body politic. 

Parrikar sent his proposal to Jaitley’s Finance Ministry in February 2015, which hibernated, with the usual excuse that modalities are being worked out. Somewhere during this time, it is reported that the Prime Minister’s Office stepped in, and in September 2015, the hapless Parrikar read out an inconsequential statement (least expected from him, with all his experience and meticulousness) with a howler about VRS – the Voluntary Retirement Scheme – which is not even applicable to the armed forces! These were totally in variance with his own proposals of February 2015, and were made reportedly at the behest of the PMO.

Then started the ex-servicemen’s agitation and hunger strike in full force. And their ultimate humiliation and insult by the Delhi Police manhandling them and physically removing them from Jantar Mantar. I wonder if the Prime Minister is aware of the extremely negative impact this has had on the morale of serving soldiers, and that all news about the on-going agitation has been ordered to be blacked out in the Media, with not even paid advertisements being accepted by mainstream newspapers. This must have been the work of someone who manages these things. It is not difficult to find out who actually handled this shut out of news which must be known to the people. 

In November 2015, the Government issued a notification regarding OROP, that was totally at variance with the definition of OROP, as approved by Parliament, or the pledge made by Modi during his election rallies.

Many injustices are evident in the notification –

1. Fixing the base year as 2013 as against 2014, (which swallows up their salary increment for one year), in violation of what had been accepted in Parliament in 2013 and 2014;

2. Averaging the pension for the rank between the maximum and minimum salary drawn in that rank, a purely subjective exercise, as against the definition accepted in Parliament that it must be determined as the same pension for the same rank for the same length of service;

3. Equalizing of pension every 5 years instead of it being done every year. This results in one rank - 5 pensions! 

I’m sure the Defence Ministry, Finance Ministry and the PMO are aware that the fighting armed soldiers retire after 15-18 years of grueling service in the most inhospitable borders of our country, as against the non fighting soldiers who serve for longer tenures in more hospitable and more comfortable working conditions.

It is these fighting armed soldiers with shorter serving tenures and their widows who will be hit hardest, and most unjustly so, if the present formula of equalizing pension every 5 years instead of each year is implemented.

4. Finally, a one man Commission to sort out the anomalies of the package, without representatives from organizations of the armed forces, is not exactly a confidence inspiring measure. Would it not have been more convincing if the Commission was more like the Pay Commission and included the armed forces representatives as well?

I don’t know whether the Prime Minister is aware that our armed forces, patriotic and disciplined as they are, are getting bitter and disillusioned. The present Finance Minister lost to Amarinder Singh in the Amritsar Constituency by 94,000 votes. I am informed that the strength of ex-servicemen in that constituency is about 55,000, and with families, the figure would be the same that Jaitley lost by. Is that the reason for his grouse against the ex-servicemen, as is speculated?

Be that as it may, can anyone explain what the grouse of the Prime Minister against the ex-servicemen is?

I am not writing this piece without disclosing that by letters reproduced under I have communicated to the Hon’ble Prime minister my deep concern about this matter but obviously he is in no mood to respond at all.

Dear Prime Minister, 

I do not enter into any correspondence with you for reasons which you know or can easily be given. But I with this in public interest and of course it involves some advice to you which you may not relish but my duty to the nation leaves me no option. 

I was shocked day before that somebody whom you know was conveying to the nation his complaint against the three Army men who are in the forefront of the OROP agitation for compelling you to carry out your promise to the Army guys and their widows.

Your post election excuse for non performance of it is plainly not sufficient if not so ridiculous that it is already exposing you to public contempt.

I know that you think that you are infallible and all knowing. It is in my humble opinion an insane illusion.

During his television talks he shamelessly boasted that he would see three guys in jail. I wonder if you know that he had earlier moved the police with the same false complaint and the police rejected it. He has now been persuaded by some whom you know that the police will change their mind.

Dear Prime Minister please listens to what sensible citizens believe. They are convinced that the police is under corrupt pressure from your government. I am warning you that in every election you will encounter precisely public reaction of which you got a clear glimpse in Bihar. 

This is an appeal from a humble citizen who was once your friend.

With utmost pain.

Sincerely Yours

Ram Jethmalani 

Mr. Prime Minister, you cannot be that naive, that you are not able to see the designs of your trusted advisers plotting against you, who have brought you ignominy in Delhi and Bihar and now have succeeded in alienating you from the armed forces, who had placed implicit trust in you. 

Take charge, eliminate your hidden enemies to whom you are giving a free hand, perform your dharma, and redeem your promise to the armed forces and ex-servicemen of our country.

You can still do it. Otherwise, you are plotting your own downfall. 

The Economist: Terrorism in the Subcontinent, Who is responsible?

"I congratulate the Economist for stating the truth about terrorism in India and Pakistan with such clarity in its article , 'Terrorism in Pakistan, Shady war, shadow peace,' dated January 23, 2016. I want many more people in our country to read this, and therefore I am putting it in my blog. My apologies to the Economist, for not taking their prior permission."

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21688923-another-attack-brings-out-pakistans-conspiracy-theorists-shady-war-shadow-peace

Farewell Rohith, bright star

He was brilliant, brave and an achiever. A first generation degree holder from the humblest of households – from a section that has borne the cross of thousands of years of social oppression, injustice and prejudice.

He was sensitive and generous, as his heart rending last letter to the world indicates, a young man in a hurry to succeed in his mission, and fight the injustices in our society toward the Dalits.

He wanted to be a great writer like Carl Sagan, and surely would have been, if his life had not been snuffed out at 26 years.

His last letter contains his life’s snapshot – ‘My birth is my fatal accident’, he says, ‘I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past.’

One can only visualize what traumas would have haunted his past, of how the past would have been, for this exceptionally intelligent and sensitive child - barred from entry into various homes and places of worship, barred from touching food and water in certain households, his exceptional intelligence being ignored or put down by the upper castes. How dare you be so intelligent, they would have said. An intelligent, sensitive child could only turn lonely.

His alienated childhood and loneliness never left him. He remembers it even in his last thoughts, before departing from this world.

But he pursued his dreams, and then bit by bit, disillusionment seems to have set in – with the ways of the world, with people around him, with his ideas. And his resentment that ‘The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of star dust. In every field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living. ’

If only he had some support, someone by his side, when he was fighting his last lonely battle of disillusionment and depression – someone who could have restored his confidence in himself to fight the system of injustice that he encountered everywhere, in the campus or with the administration. Someone who could have told him that he was in for a long haul in his mission. No injustice anywhere in the world has been removed without a long and bitter fight, sometimes bloody. Take the case of the French or Russian Revolutions centuries ago.

Social oppression that has taken deep roots in Indian society for the last two thousand years at least, will not be wiped out from society through constitutionalism or by law in seventy years. I wish Rohith had geared himself for a long fight and had not given up.

Alas, as expected, the tragic incident became a political bonanza for some - VIP visits vulgarly and inhumanly cashing on political capital with an eye on future elections, the usual accusations and counter accusations, and Minister Smriti Irani and the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao allegedly making erroneous statements.

Even in death, he had been reduced to what he loathed - 'to his immediate identity, ....To a vote. To a number. To a thing.'

As a member of a privileged section of society, I cannot escape from being part of the historical and collective system that have perpetuated the social inequities that have socially and psychologically imprisoned large sections of our people over centuries, propagating their inferiority, and preventing them from achieving their complete potential. 

Farewell, bright star. You are now with the stars that you loved so much. 

I do not by this exonerate myself from the charge of being morally responsible for the tragic history of the Dalits in India over long centuries of condemning them to a humiliating existence on this sorry planet of ours. I humbly plead guilty to the charge and reluctantly ask for forgiveness of the Dalits who are rightly embittered and angry by the behavior of high caste citizens who harm , maybe unwillingly sometimes , contributed to the self immollition of the young scholar Rohith Chakrathirtha Vemula .

I am a product of Sindhi society which before the tragic partition of India had developed a synthesis of religion , scoffed at caste distinctions preached the genuine equality of all and developed contempt for the unworthy claimants of congenital superiority over their fellow citizens. I grew to be a great admirer of Dr. Ambedkar and fully sympathized with his preference for Budhisim over the caste ridden Hindus. 

I was a great supporter of the Mandal Commission and almost fought a lone battle against the most well known and flourishing lawyers of India before our Supreme Court. I succeeded against odds; thanks to the government of Bihar that briefed me to fight this great legal battle for the Dalits of India. No political party has the courage to challenge the Judgment though it was only a majority judgment. The compliments I won from the court and the appreciation of the backward class and their leaders was my remuneration.

The latest issue of the ‘ Outlook’ contains many tributes to the life and philosophy of the young scholar Rohith Vemula who ended his brilliant life in a manner which makes all decent Indians hang low their heads in shame and remorse. The best one is by a young female scholar Amrita Howlader . I hope everyone will read it. This will tell you that Rohith did not die in vain; his cause and life mission will get support from million more and compel the Indian nation to end this sordid and blackest spot on our face. 

Rohith let your comrades carry your memory and take your mission forward. 

It will take many more years to get the social justice that India owes you.

Ashok Kumar Aggarwal, IRS Officer finally gets justice from Delhi High Court

Hon'ble High court of Delhi in its judgment has quashed CBI cases against Ashok Aggarwal, IRS officer and held that investigation conducted by CBI in these cases smacks of intentional mischief to misdirect the investigation as well as withhold material evidence which would exonerate Aggarwal and it is a case of 'Suggestion falsi', 'Suppressio veri' and hence, malafide. Hon'ble Justice Siddhartha Mridul in his judgment further held that It does not seem to be merely a case of faulty investigation of CBI but it seemingly an investigation coloured with motivation or an attempt to ensure that certain persons can go Scot free. It is pertinent to state that Aggarwal, as Deputy Director of Enforcement was investigation cases for FERA violations and hawala transactions against highly influential persons. Hon'ble court further held that Aggarwal has endured suffering, humiliation and considerable trauma and a sense of dubiety has persisted qua him since long. Justice has finally prevailed upon the officer who fought for 18 long years for his false implication.

Must read and share https://www.facebook.com/feedteck/?fref=ts